


a bullet to the back tore his world apart

by thewolvesrunwild



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: (Buddy and Vespa are from the Penumbra Podcast), (But you don't need to know anything about them), (just treat them like new immortal ocs), Angst, Assisted Suicide, Goodbyes, Hurt No Comfort, Joe and Nicky die for good, M/M, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25944832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolvesrunwild/pseuds/thewolvesrunwild
Summary: Later, Nile will be glad she found Nicky before he realized Joe wasn't waking up. As much as it hurts, she will be glad she got to say goodbye to one of them.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Comments: 23
Kudos: 263





	a bullet to the back tore his world apart

**Author's Note:**

> So normally I hate writing sad stuff that doesn't end happy but this just kinda, happened? This was only supposed to be half as long but then the tog discord encouraged me to break hearts.  
> Also they're somewhere in space now and have blasters in addition to guns and stuff, I don't know.

In all honesty, Joe probably would have taken the bullets for Nicky even if he _hadn't_ seen the unhealed wound on his beloved. (A stray hit had clipped his own blaster and left it useless, leaving Nicky the more capable one in the fight until he could grab a replacement.)

Joe moves to cover Nicky while still leaving his sight-lines open for return fire with the ease of one who has been doing so for millennia. He feels the shots enter through his back and scorch his lungs, and he knows that they would have been instant fatal shots to Nicky. As it is, Joe's already choking on his own blood as he sinks to the ground. He glances up, desperate to have Nicky be the last thing he sees. As much as he hates to leave his heart behind, he can't imagine the pain of being in a world without him. If he has to condemn his love to that, at least he does it knowing Nicolò has a way out if he wants to take it.

Almost five thousand years and he can't help thinking it isn't enough time. What would he have done differently if he knew that this mission would be his last? Would he have hugged Nile tighter? Teased Booker more about his new haircut? Teased him less? What would he have said to Buddy and Vespa; some advice to help them keep their two century long relationship as long as he and Nicky were able to keep theirs? Would he have left a note for the white haired man they had all yet to meet? Would he have kissed his Nicolò just one more time; kept him in bed just one more minute; just because he could?

Joe's gasping desperately on his final breaths when Nicolò crouches down next to him. His hand is soft and warm as it cups his cooling cheek.

And then his love, his moon, his heart, his life, _his soul_ meets his eyes and says something that Yusuf does not hear. Nicolò's lips move but he cannot process the sound and he hopes that– even though he cannot hear it himself– Yusuf hopes his final word is " _Nicolò_ ".

* * *

When the dust settled, Joe and Nicky were missing. Nile instructed Booker to clear out with Buddy and Vespa while she went to locate them. She found them in a corner surrounded by six other bodies. Joe's head was in Nicky's lap as the other man gently caressed his face.

" _Yusuf, wake up, please_ ," Nicky was pleading in Arabic. " _Ya hayati, please_."

Nile crouched down next to them, sending a quick message off to their other teammates that she had located the two and would meet the rest of them back at the safe house.

She couldn't see the wound that killed Joe; it must have hit his back.

"What happened?" she asked.

Nicky shook his head. "Three, four shots to his back. He took them for me. Why would he take them for me?"

He looked up at her, tears in his eyes, and Nile noticed the bloody and burned skin on the side of his neck. A blaster bolt had grazed him. With all the adrenaline he probably hadn't even noticed it.

But Joe must have.

Nile reached out slowly and touched the wound. Her fingers came away slick with blood and Nicky hissed in pain, finally feeling it. "That should have healed by now," she said softly.

Nicky's eyes widened and it was only thanks to years of working with him that Nile was able to knock the gun out of his hand before he could raise it more than six inches off the ground.

"Nicky, no!"

He glared at her, eyes sharp with a pain she could never begin to imagine.

"Together or not at all," he growled. "That was our promise."

"I know," Nile gasped. There were suddenly tears flowing down her cheeks. "But please, say goodbye first," she begged. "Joe will wait for you while you say goodbye to everyone first."

Nicky's expression crumbled and he looked away from her. He nodded his head though, before placing a gentle kiss to Joe's brow.

"Wait for me, please, while I say goodbye to our family," he murmured.

Nicky carried Joe back to the car. Cradled him in his arms, Joe's head resting on his shoulder. One could almost pretend he was sleeping – if you ignored the blood on his lips and stillness of his chest.

Nile tried to keep her tears at bay as she drove them back to the safe house. She wasn't ready for this. It had been over three thousand years and she was _not ready for this_. She glanced into the rearview mirror as much as she dared. Nicky was still cradling Joe to his chest. His lips moved but Nile couldn't hear what he was saying. She wasn't sure if he was speaking aloud at all. She'd seen the two of them between deaths that took a long time to come back from before. The one left behind was always slightly untethered until their other half finally breathed again. But as they drove on, Nile saw more and more of Nicky slip away. She wasn't sure how much would be left to say goodbye. They finally pulled up to the safe house and, though the stop was smooth, Nile might as well have slammed on the breaks for the intense pain that filled her over the realization.

It was just going to be the four of them now.

They'd gotten almost two centuries as a group of six again, and now they would be back down to four. She wondered if she should have been expecting this. For all their differences, Buddy and Vespa's first deaths were rather similar to the men who had met on opposite sides of a battlefield. (Though it had been a case of mistaken identity that had caused the two women to take the other's life.)

Nile forced herself out of the car before she got lost in her own head. She made her way over to the other side of the vehicle and opened the door for Nicky.

"Finally you're back!"

Nile turned to see Booker smiling, stepping out to greet them. "What took so lo–"

And then he saw Nicky bringing Joe's body out of the back seat. A body that did not give any indication of getting back up. He looked desperately from Nicky's expressionless face to the tears once again falling down Nile's cheeks. (When had they started up again? Had they ever stopped?) But it only made the horror real.

" _No_." He wasn't even conscious of saying it as he watched Nicky move past him and into the house. Nile stopped and placed a hand on Booker's arm.

"Nicky's not healing. I think Joe noticed. I–" she choked up– "I got Nicky to come back and say goodbye."

"Together or not at all," Booker quoted softly. He knew as well as she did the comforting mantra the two would say.

They followed Nicky into the house. He had laid Joe down on the couch and was brushing his curls away from his forehead and speaking softly to him.

Buddy and Vespa were standing back, shocked into silence. The two women hadn't seen one of them die for good. They hadn't even been born yet when Andy died. Hadn't had their first deaths before Quỳnh went either.

Vespa's hand had a vice grip on Buddy's upper arm. Buddy looked over at Nile with her good eye, and the older woman in all but appearance went to stand next to the younger immortal.

"I know you said we would one day die but–" Buddy whispered.

"It didn't seem real," Nile finished for her.

Buddy nodded.

Booker came over and put a hand on Nicky's shoulder. "You don't have to go," he said.

Nicky shook his head. "I would not be alive without my soul." He finally looked away from Joe and rose to his feet. Booker immediately pulled him into a hug that Nicky easily returned.

"I'm not ready to be the oldest," he said, attempting to joke through his tears.

Nicky's watery smile mirrored his. "You're only two hundred years older than Nile. That's hardly anything now." He pulled back slightly and placed a hand on his cheek. “Be strong, as I know you can be.” Booker nodded.

Nicky left his embrace and moved to Nile, hugging her just as tightly.

"Take care, little sister," he whispered. "Thank you for reminding me to say goodbye." Nile only squeezed him tighter in response.

He moved on to Buddy and Vespa, hugging the fiery haired woman first before her green haired partner.

"Take care of each other," he told them. "Whether you have one thousand or ten thousand years before you, do not lose sight of what you mean to each other."

"Never," Vespa solemnly agreed.

"You're a tough act to follow, darling," Buddy said, wiping away a tear. "But we'll give you a run for your money."

Nicky chuckled. "I know you will."

Then he moved back to the couch, taking out his blaster and passing it to Booker.

"We love you all," he said to the four of them.

"We love you, too," Nile answered.

"Always," said Booker.

"Don't think this changes that," Vespa scoffed.

Buddy gently squeezed his shoulder as Nicky knelt down, his family surrounding him.

* * *

Nicky gently caresses Joe's cheek before tucking a stray curl behind his ear. " _Yusuf_ ," he whispers with reverence, kissing his beloved's lips one last time. Then, he pulls back to look at Joe’s face, and doesn't even feel the bullet that scorches his heart.


End file.
